PlayStation Plus Version of Drive Club Won’t Be Complete

Though PlayStation Plus members will be getting Drive Club for free when it arrives on the PlayStation 4, they won't be getting the full game. Developer Evolution Studios has revealed there will be features from the retail game removed from the free version.

"[The] PS Plus version will be the exact same as the full version, except that it may be missing a few assets such as cars or tracks, that will be found in the full version. However the online multiplayer, the asynchronous challenges and the single player campaign will all be present in the PS Plus version. The PS Plus version gives us to the biggest open community, day one. This game is all about socializing," Evolution told PlayStationer in an interview.

It's a bit of a good news, bad news situation, as PS Plus members will be getting a PS4 launch title for free, even if they won't be getting the full game. However, the additional content found in the retail version will be available for a price. "[You] can buy any/all of the content that you want," Evolution added. "You could download the PS Plus version and then decide that you want to convert this to the full digital version, then you can pay a sum of money and everything else will be delivered to you."

How fans will respond to such a practice remains to be seen, as PS Plus members are used to getting complete games for free, not slightly diminished versions. If the pricing is fair, Drive Club could still be a success. With so many other racing games available, it's going to be tough to stand out, and Evolution could use every advantage it has to help differentiate itself from the onslaught of next-gen racers coming from third-party developers.